Govt takes credit as UN ranks Thailand’s human development ‘high’ for 3rd year

The HDI measures three criteria of human development – health, knowledge, and standard of living.

Thailand rose six places to 66th out of 191 countries in the 2021-2022 HDI issued by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Thursday.

The Kingdom scored 0.800 on the index, with life expectancy at 78.7 years, expected years of schooling at 15.9, and gross national income per capita of US$17,030 (about 619,000 baht).

Government spokeswoman Trisulee Trisaranakul said the news showed the government was making progress on improving life for Thais.

Thailand ranked fourth in Asean behind Singapore (0.939), Brunei (0.829), and Malaysia (0.803). Indonesia scored 0.705 followed by Vietnam (0.703), Philippines (0.699), Laos (0.607) and Myanmar (0.585).

The index has four tiers of human development: very high (0.8-1.0), high (0.7-0.79), medium (0.55-.70), and low (below 0.55).

Trisulee noted that Thailand has been in the high-very high tier since 2019.

“The fact that Thailand has received ‘high’ scores consecutively shows the government has been successful in implementing its policies by heeding advice from international organisations,” she said. She added that the government had taken advice from the UNDP in implementing its strategic development plans.